UN chief says Sudan president must comply with ICC decision

February 10, 2009 (NEW YORK) — The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to respect any decision made by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which is investigating war crimes in Darfur.

The ICC judges are expected to release their decision issuing an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir for an unspecified number of charges.

The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo have alleged in his application that Al-Bashir masterminded a campaign to get rid of the African tribes in Darfur; Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.

Ban stressed that the Hague-based court is independent institution from the UN but said that Bashir must cooperate with the court.

“As I repeatedly told you the ICC is an independent judiciary organization. Their functions and responsibilities are quite distinct and separate from the UN Secretariat” he said at a press conference in the world body.

“He [Bashir] should full cooperate with whatever decision the ICC make” he added.

The UN Secretary General also urged Khartoum to take all necessary measures to protect peacekeepers and other UN staff in the country against possible backlash by the population.

“It will be very important for president Bashir and the Sudanese government to act responsibly to ensure safety and security of UN peacekeepers and protect human rights of all the population there and faithfully implement the CPA.” the UN Secretary General said.

But Sudan’s ambassador at the UN Abdel-Haleem Abdel-Mahmood reacted angrily to Ban’s remarks.

“If the secretary-general wants us to believe that the court is independent, then he should stop becoming its spokesperson” he told Reuters in an interview.

“We know the forces of darkness are conspiring against our country” he said, adding that Sudan’s “government “knows its commitments” regarding the safety of U.N. peacekeepers.

Ban defended his meeting with Bashir during the African Union (AU) summit at the Ethiopian capital despite advises from his aides that he should distance himself from the Sudanese head of state in wake of the ICC indictment.

“I thought that during this Addis [Ababa] AU Summit meeting that it would be very crucially important as secretary-general, in discharging my duties as secretary-general, in ensuring peace and security and ensuring safety and security of our UN mission and civil population, that I should meet President Bashir at this time” he said.

He credited his talks with Bashir for the fewer casualties that occurred during clashes between the Sudanese army and Darfur rebels in the town of Muhajriya in South Darfur last month.

Relations between the UN and Sudan went sour after the latter asked UNAMID peacekeepers to leave Muhajriya in order to carry out an assault to retake the town. However the UN refused to heed to Khartoum’s request.

“I pressed both the government and rebel forces around the city of Muhajriya to withdraw and to safeguard civilians. Both sides have largely complied. I told everyone I spoke to, bluntly and categorically, that the UN would stand its ground” Ban said.

The Sudanese defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein have said in press statements that Bashir reacted sharply to Ban’s request to stop Muhajriya attack during their meeting in Addis Ababa.

“He [Bashir] told him [Ban] that we will eject JEM rebels and take control over it [Muhajriya] even if Ban went there himself and took refuge in UNAMID headquarters” Hussein said.

The UN Secretary General said he will be advised by his “legal and political adviser on the next course of action” following an arrest warrant for Bashir.

The UNSC issued resolution 1593 under chapter VII in March 2005 referring the situation in Darfur to the ICC. However Sudan refuses to recognize the jurisdiction of the court.

(ST)